Antarctic Whaling Find Unmasks a New Oceanic Squid Family: Mobydickia poseidonii
A squid recovered from a sperm whale’s stomach during the 1955–56 Antarctic whaling season was long misidentified as Ancistrocheirus lesueurii but has been reclassified as the sole representative of a new oceanic-squid family, Mobydickidae, with the new genus Mobydickia and species poseidonii. Described in 2025, the finding rests on distinctive anatomy (including unique hooks and absence of photophores) and, lacking DNA data, uses morphology from the holotype—the specimen traveled from a private collection to the Natural History Museum in London and then to the ICM-CSIC in Barcelona for study. This marks the first new oceanic-squid family since 1998 and highlights how old collections can reveal hidden biodiversity, though it does not imply a living population or ecological significance beyond taxonomic refinement.